


Trust: A Carved Promise

by GreenGroove



Series: Trust [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/F, Fluff, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 13:55:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29859114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreenGroove/pseuds/GreenGroove
Summary: Mercedes calls Annette to a private part of the woods, but the latter starts to worry something's wrong. When will get back to the monastery in time to hear whatever Mercedes has planned? [Annie/Mercie, mainly]
Relationships: Annette Fantine Dominic/Ingrid Brandl Galatea, Annette Fantine Dominic/Mercedes von Martritz, Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier, Ingrid Brandl Galatea/Mercedes von Martritz
Series: Trust [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2195271
Kudos: 2





	Trust: A Carved Promise

“Mercie, wait up!”    
  
“Nope! You’re just going to have to get faster!”   
  
Mercedes turned around as she ran, hiking up her skirt. She giggled as she watched Annette give chase - and Mercedes wasn’t letting her off easy, either!   
  
Firm hands found Mercedes’ shoulders.    
  
“Got you.”   
  
Mercedes tried to budge, but it was no use - Ingrid was just too strong! The interruption gave Annette the time to catch up.    
  
“Ingrid! T-thank… the Goddess!” Annette said, through exasperated pants.    
  
“Oh, Annette, it was just a quick romp through the field! Exercise is good for the body and the soul!” she said, matter-of-fact. Ingrid stared blankly.    
  
“Annette, you chased her… why? We have a rendezvous with the Professor in a few hours, and isn’t it unwise to stray too far from the monastery?”    
  
Mercedes flutter-slapped Ingrid’s hands off of her, then smiled her award-winning smile. “What’s the rush? Why not…  _ live _ a little?”   
  
Annette, finally upright after catching her breathe, shoved Mercedes. “ _ Live a little _ ?!” She yelled. “You nearly gave me a heart attack the way you… the way you just  _ bolted _ like that!”   
  
Ingrid frowned. “What’s… going on here?” she asked, voice low. She knew that they were in the outskirts out of the monastery’s forest, and any amount of bandits were likely to be nearby.   
  
“Why, nothing at all!” Mercie said with a bewildered expression. “Is something the matter?”   
  
“That’s… what I’m trying to figure out,” Ingrid said, trailing off. She rubbed her arm as she surveyed the area. “Why did you guys come  _ this _ way?”   
  
“Yeah, Mercie!” Annette chimed in. “You said you had a secret to tell me, so why’d you had to do it all the way out  _ here _ ?!”   
  
As Annette became more flustered, Mercedes stroked her chin with a finger. The other two girls watched her, intent on an answer. What if it was something serious? They  _ were _ at war, after all!   
  
“Mercie, you’re not in…  _ trouble _ … are you?” Ingrid asked, leaning in close.    
  
“Oh, nothing of the sort,” said Mercedes. Did her face tinge a slight pink, or was it the crisp air? “Though I thank you for thinking so highly of my safety.”   
  
“Well then…?  _ Whaaaat _ ?” Annette said with a long whine. She seemed to have less interest in staying incognito than the other two.    
  
Mercedes giggled, then took Annette’s hands in her own. “Well, I guess it’s just that… I wanted to say something really important to you… and I didn’t know how to go about it! You’ll have to forgive me.” She said this, yet didn’t seem the slightest bit apologetic.   
  
“O-okay? Mercie, you’re kinna scaring me a little,” Annette said, receiving an encouraging hand-squeeze in response. “You  _ know _ you can tell me anything so… why’d you wanna do it all the way out here?”   
  
Ingrid cleared her throat. “Yeah, and I don’t want to be interrupting even more than I already am. Marianne was busy, so I'm just out here to give Dorte some fresh air. I’ll just--uh…”   
  
She faltered. Looking around, it became apparent that the horse in question was nowhere to be found!   
  
“Guys!” Ingrid called back to them. “I’m sorry, can we all split up and search for Dorte? I want to get her back before sundown and--”   
  
Mercedes waved a hand. “Of  _ course _ we’ll help you! C’mon Annie, let's find Dorte!”   
  
As they set off in different directions, Annette couldn’t help but steal a few glances at Mercedes. Why did she call her out  _ this far _ away from the monastery, anyway? Couldn’t it just be some secret that could be shared in her room?   
  
That’s when she heard some other, familiar voices.   
  
“--...going well. I feel there’s a growth that exists where there wasn’t one, before. Do--...”   
  
Annette peaked around a tree and saw two  _ very _ familiar mobs of red and black hair. What were Sylvain and Felix doing out here, too? She covered her mouth as she looked again…   
  
...Dorte was with them. In fact, Sylvain was  _ stroking _ Dorte, sitting on a bench. Felix faced him, back to a tree, seeming…  _ content _ . For once. Weird. 

“Oh! Ingrid, come here!” Mercedes shouted from next to Annette, causing her to jump. “Annie found her! Look!” 

Just as Mercedes pointed, Sylvain and Felix turned to meet with them.

“Hey-hey! You excited?” Sylvain asked, bumping shoulders with Annette. Instead of answering, she stomped the leafy ground.

“Why are all of you acting  _ so weird _ , today?!” she yelled. Each of them looked away - that is, except for Mercedes, who beamed at her.

“Beats me,” Felix said with a shrug. “Every day with this team is a weird one.” He shook his head, as if plagued with thousands of annoying, inescapable memories.

“Let's get back, we'll have just enough time,” said Ingrid. The urgency in her voice as she mounted Dorte put Annette on edge, but she trusted her friends. More than anything.

* * *

The Marketplace was buzzing, at least with triple the capacity as usual. Mercedes grabbed onto Annette’s hand and tugged her out into the main square, where they were met with thunderous applause. 

Annette looked around and saw her beloved classmates behind… banquet tables?

She spun around. “Wh-what's going on?!” Perhaps subconsciously, she prepared a magical attack.

“Annie, wait, no no!” Mercedes rushed forward and drew Annette’s glowing hands down to her sides. “This isn't any sort of scary ambush -- it's a celebration!”   
  
“ _ Surprise! _ ” everyone yelled. Cheering and noise-makers filled the air.

This took Annette by surprise, enough so that she actually flinched. “A cele… br--? For what?” Confusion knit her brows together; she lowered her voice as she whispered to Mercedes: “We haven't won the war yet…”

“No silly, for us!”   
  
“Us? What do you... mean?”  
  
“Why, I wanted as many people around as possible to hear me declare my love for you, silly!”   
  
Cheers erupted at Mercedes’ declaration. Annette gawked, face beet-red.  
  
Dedue and Ashe wheeled a cake, the latter with the biggest beam on his face, and the former with his version of one.  
  
“Congratulations,” said Dedue with a slight bow. Ashe already had slices of cake waiting on plates for the two of them.  
  
“I’m really happy for you both.” Ashe beamed and handed them the slices, which were skillfully intercepted by Sylvain.  
  
“Whoa now, you think we’re just gonna let you celebrate without giving _us_ our fair share?” he asked.  
  
Felix showed up and took one of the slices Sylvain stole. “Just because _we_ did it a week earlier _doesn’t_ mean we have to steal the spotlight.” Felix shuddered. “I hate the spotlight.”  
  
“Fine, fine,” Sylvain lamented, digging into his piece.  
  
“Annie,” Mercedes started, taking Annette to a more private area off to the side. “I wanted you to have something…”  
  
As she began to dig through her pockets, Annette raised her hands. “Mercie, please! This is all too much already!”  
  
“Nonsense!” And with that, Mercedes brandished a pendent - one that looked hand-carved, with swirls of wood around a sword. She traced over some of the lines with a thumb, then showed Annette, who gasped.  
  
“Whoa… this is incredible, what is this?!”  
  
“It’s… something my long-lost brother once made for me. I know he would’ve wanted me to give it to someone I really cherished.”  
  
Annette felt her eyes sting. “Your… brother…” She sniffed. “You… you never talk about him,” she said in a low voice.  
  
Mercedes beamed. “It doesn’t matter, just that in this pendent, is a promise.” She clasped the pendent around Annette’s neck and held the carving in her fingers. “I promise to always hold you close, and never let anything bad happen to you.” She wiped a tear away from her own eye, then properly returned Annette’s gaze.  
  
“I… accept? I accept!” Annette yelled, jumping up and down. Mercedes laughed hard enough to bend and lean against her knees.  
  
“I had hoped you’d say that.”

“Why here, Mercie?”

Mercedes giggled. “Sure, the dining hall would have been the obvious option, huh? But I just wanted as many people to see this declaration as possible! The foot traffic here suited my selfish desire for my feelings to be spread… far and wide!”

“You know what's funny,” Annette said, being wrapped in a warm, swaying embrace. “I always kinna thought you had a thing for Ingrid.”

“Of course I do, silly! All of you I love equally. ...But we can talk about  _ that _ later.”

Annette collapsed into Mercedes’ body, steam nearly trailing out of her ears.

“Y-yes, run that one by me again, later…”   
  


* * *

  
  
Rays of light strewn across the carpet of Annette’s room, signalling the crack of dawn. Normally, she didn’t arise  _ quite _ so early, but a strange and  _ particularly interesting _ dream had her nearly bounce out of bed!   
  
She shuffled out of bed and headed to the mirror. That’s where she saw it.   
  
The pendent.   
  
It seemed to almost  _ glow _ with a wispy purple, and she could  _ feel _ real magicks imbued within. She cast a low-level spell, and felt her pendent shine with power as she did. It was an incredible feeling. She could feel the _love_ and _trust_ within the pendent; she could draw from them as if they were tangible wells just waiting to be tapped into. Just how...?   
  
“I must be dreaming…”  
  
But yet, she had the most wonderful feeling that maybe, just maybe, she wasn't.   


**Author's Note:**

> Again as before, these are all meant to be self-contained little stories. Any retcons with canon are to be basically ignored!


End file.
